Moonlight

[mitzo]

Dave did marvellous production work on IYD. My disappointment is that Dave was involved in the songwriting to such an extent that Stevie has only 3 or 4 (SL, ML, SA and, if you must, AL) fully self-written tunes on this album out of 13 tracks.

To me that is disappointing, frustrating, puzzling, and more. Not to say they aren't good tunes, but they are not Stevie's.

[Christopher]

Originally Posted by mitzo

Dave did marvellous production work on IYD. My disappointment is that Dave was involved in the songwriting to such an extent that Stevie has only 3 or 4 (SL, ML, SA and, if you must, AL) fully self-written tunes on this album out of 13 tracks.

To me that is disappointing, frustrating, puzzling, and more. Not to say they aren't good tunes, but they are not Stevie's.

Still mystifying. The poetry/lyrics are all Stevie, and the songs are superb imho. RAL had even more co-written, unwritten Stevie songs than IYD, and like I mentioned before, every solo album after Bella Donna had significant musical collaborators. IYD is the 1st solo album in which every single song was written or co-written by Stevie Nicks (period)! I guess I do not understand your frustration or bewilderment just because Stevie didn't solely write the majority of the music. If anything Dave's musical accompaniment freed Stevie to write a truly inspired album for the 1st time in over 2 decades without frustration or dissapointmet *rant over* some people will never be satisfied...

[tabruns]

I'm guessing Mitzo is that what you're getting at is that there's a certain "Stevie-ness" to the music when she's written the music as well as the lyrics. And she has produced amazing songs, from "Crystal" up through "Moonlight".

That being said though, I think the music that Dave wrote still has a Stevie-ness to it, largely because even though Dave got the music writing credit, the music went in the direction that Stevie wanted. She's pretty clear about that. Dave might have been producing the chords, but it was only with Stevie's consent that the music went in particular directions. Frankly I think it'd be reasonable if Stevie got like 10% of the music writing credit. This situation is quite different than say when she writes with anyone else, because in those cases she gets handed music that is "As Is"....yeah she still chooses it, but she doesn't have an influence while its actually being written.

[WildHearted]

Stevie wrote the melod to the songs, so for that alone I feel like she should get a partial credit for he music

[mitzo]

All I'm saying is that she did not write the music to the vast majority of these songs.

That makes me sad, especially considering that she is an artist a legend and so on, with scores of her own songs in archives.

To me, this is Dave's album as much as it is hers.

Sorry if that annoys some, but that is how it looks from here, and why my reaction to IYD has been a bit muted.

[tabruns]

Originally Posted by mitzo

All I'm saying is that she did not write the music to the vast majority of these songs.

That makes me sad, especially considering that she is an artist a legend and so on, with scores of her own songs in archives.

To me, this is Dave's album as much as it is hers.

Sorry if that annoys some, but that is how it looks from here, and why my reaction to IYD has been a bit muted.

It doesn't annoy me. I just think that you aren't realizing that Stevie actually was more involved in how the music turned out here than in any other situation where she collaborated with someone. Yeah its not the same as when she writes music and lyrics all on her own, but its more "Stevie" than all the songs which were collaborations with others or didn't have her writing at all.

Also, think about this: Stevie knows roughly 8 chords...is it possible that since she was so prolific for so many years that she's basically "run out" of musical ideas, given the limited number of chords she knows? If that's the case its much better that the music is coming out of her writing directly with someone *who follows her lead on where she wants the music to go* rather than just accepting completely written music from someone else.

[mitzo]

On the album, Dave gets full credit for the melodies - "Music: D. Stewart, Lyrics: S. Nicks."

Bad.

[WildHearted]

Originally Posted by mitzo

On the album, Dave gets full credit for the melodies - "Music: D. Stewart, Lyrics: S. Nicks."

Bad.

That's what I don't understand. It's obvious from Stevie's statements about the recording that she constructed the melodies - although they were, of course, based upon the chord progressions Dave was playing. For that, I think she should get some of the musical credit. Then again, when Mike Campbell sends her a track, like FWIW, she makes up the melody too, and gets no musical credit..

I guess I just don't understand why making up the melody doesn't constitute as having written a portion of the music.

[jellyman10]

Originally Posted by WildHearted

That's what I don't understand. It's obvious from Stevie's statements about the recording that she constructed the melodies - although they were, of course, based upon the chord progressions Dave was playing. For that, I think she should get some of the musical credit. Then again, when Mike Campbell sends her a track, like FWIW, she makes up the melody too, and gets no musical credit..

I guess I just don't understand why making up the melody doesn't constitute as having written a portion of the music.

Yeah, I'm with you on that. In such cases, it should be "Lyrics: S. Nicks. Music: D. Stewart & S. Nicks". That's looking at it dispassionately, from the outside, though. It might be the case that Stevie is being generous with the co-credit because of what she knows about how much Dave acted as a catalyst without which there really would be NO album.

In the end, though, I think the credits on this album are as she wants them, and that's good enough for me. Plus, I've heard the LFTM demo and I know she wrote the lovely melody to Moonlight.

[Christopher]

Originally Posted by jellyman10

Yeah, I'm with you on that. In such cases, it should be "Lyrics: S. Nicks. Music: D. Stewart & S. Nicks". That's looking at it dispassionately, from the outside, though. It might be the case that Stevie is being generous with the co-credit because of what she knows about how much Dave acted as a catalyst without which there really would be NO album.

In the end, though, I think the credits on this album are as she wants them, and that's good enough for me. Plus, I've heard the LFTM demo and I know she wrote the lovely melody to Moonlight.

This exactly! I believe Stevie was being very generous giving Dave full music credit on their collaborations due to her immense love of how this project ended up becoming & seeing how dedicated Dave was to this album & not editing her songs/verses etc. Stevie, without doubt, had to come up with some of these melodies, being prompted along by chord progressions, and what not by Dave.

Stevie recounted in many interviews the process the very 1st song they wrote together, "You May Be The One" came to be. Dave saying he liked that poem, armed with a guitar, launched into a few chords, and prompted Stevie to chime in, which she did in a sing-songy way, reciting the lyrics & no doubt melding that into a melody based around the chord progression Dave was playing. She has done this before on co-written songs, just not with someone actually in the room, with her giving Dave direct feedback & visa-versa.

[Christopher]

Originally Posted by WildHearted

That's what I don't understand. It's obvious from Stevie's statements about the recording that she constructed the melodies - although they were, of course, based upon the chord progressions Dave was playing. For that, I think she should get some of the musical credit. Then again, when Mike Campbell sends her a track, like FWIW, she makes up the melody too, and gets no musical credit..

I guess I just don't understand why making up the melody doesn't constitute as having written a portion of the music.

Melody creation usually does amount to a musical writing credit. After all, Stevie is singing & creating the notes around a chord progression. The credits on IYD collaborations should have & were more likely: music & lyrics by D Stewart/S Nicks & M. Campbell/S Nicks, I just think Stevie was feeling very generous because she was so over the moon with the outcome of this record. The diversity, The blood, sweat & tears that Stewart & others involved gave to the musical accompaniments/arrangements.

[tabruns]

I agree. The credits probably should have read "Lyrics S. Nicks/Music D. Stewart & S. Nicks" to reflect what really went on. But like others, I think it's very likely that Stevie was so enthralled with the process - and also that Dave's additional chords DID take her music in areas where it wouldn't have gone - that she wanted him to have the full music writing credit. Plus by having it as "Lyrics S. Nicks/Music D. Stewart" she's splitting the songs with him 50/50 which is probably what she'd prefer to do.

My basic point to Mitzo though is that I don't think the music is pure D. Stewart at all, even if that's what the credit implies.

Think of this too: I don't think that "Secret Love", "Moonlight" or "Annabel Lee" sound wildly different than the Stewart/Nicks songs, again leading me to believe that there is definitely something of "Stevie" in the music of the Stewart/Nicks songs.

Off-topic: BTW what is it with Nicks and people with a last name of "Stewart"? I mean her first solo big collaborator (in terms of writing) was Sandy Stewart.....then her big late career tour is with Rod Stewart.....and her big late career album is with Dave Stewart. She should write a witchy haunting song titled "Stewart" to commemorate this.

[WildHearted]

Originally Posted by tabruns

I agree. The credits probably should have read "Lyrics S. Nicks/Music D. Stewart & S. Nicks" to reflect what really went on. But like others, I think it's very likely that Stevie was so enthralled with the process - and also that Dave's additional chords DID take her music in areas where it wouldn't have gone - that she wanted him to have the full music writing credit. Plus by having it as "Lyrics S. Nicks/Music D. Stewart" she's splitting the songs with him 50/50 which is probably what she'd prefer to do.

My basic point to Mitzo though is that I don't think the music is pure D. Stewart at all, even if that's what the credit implies.

Think of this too: I don't think that "Secret Love", "Moonlight" or "Annabel Lee" sound wildly different than the Stewart/Nicks songs, again leading me to believe that there is definitely something of "Stevie" in the music of the Stewart/Nicks songs.

Off-topic: BTW what is it with Nicks and people with a last name of "Stewart"? I mean her first solo big collaborator (in terms of writing) was Sandy Stewart.....then her big late career tour is with Rod Stewart.....and her big late career album is with Dave Stewart. She should write a witchy haunting song titled "Stewart" to commemorate this.

Don't forget about John Stewart...

[Bandon]

I can't believe it. Until yesterday, I had not heard one song from IYD playing on the radio, in stores, etc. I live in Austin, and I heard Moonlight when I was going into a large movie theater in town. When I left the movie, I also heard it again and noticed they were playing the video on a screen in the lobby.

[mitzo]

"...Can you write this for me? He says no, you write your songs yourself. That made me stronger, that made me hold on to me..."

Hmmm....